Editorial: Cal Am's proposal has the right idea

California American Water's latest plan to address the looming water crisis may not be the perfect approach. With so much at stake and with so many stakeholders with varying interests, no plan would ever be considered ideal. But at the very least, it represents movement, which, like water, has been in short supply.

The various interest groups now will pick apart Cal Am's plan, competing plans will continue to be aired and other obstacles will develop. But the people and the economy of the Peninsula will be served best if the other plans and other obstacles play out on their own without derailing the Cal Am proposal.

As it stands, there is at least some chance that Cal Am could complete a scaled-back desalination plant, an expanded aquifer storage project and a groundwater replenishment program by 2016, when the Peninsula should be feeling the full effects of a state-ordered cutback on use of Carmel River water.

Like others, we're concerned Cal Am could be overly optimistic with its projection that its plan would only double local water bills. The larger desalination plant that was part of the defunct regional project was expected to at least triple the bills—and that was without accounting for cost overruns that plague utility construction projects.

While the failures and foibles of the regional project have left the public deeply suspicious of Cal Am and a long list of public entities, there are few, if any, realistic options.

Developer Nader Agha hopes to proceed on a desalination plant of his own in partnership with the city of Pacific Grove and possibly other public partners. There is no obvious reason they shouldn't proceed, but the effort should be considered a supplement to Cal Am's plan, not an alternative.

Others are pushing for greater reliance on aquifer storage and recovery and additional use of treated wastewater. If there is a way to do more on those fronts than Cal Am is proposing, no one should stand in the way. But a long, drawn out debate about the precise percentage of water from each source would only delay a solution, and delay is the enemy.

Cal Am should not wait for a final determination on the issue of public ownership. A Monterey County ordinance requires that any desalination plant be owned by a public agency, which is why the regional project was the work of an unwieldy partnership involving Cal Am, Monterey County and the Marina Coast Water District.

The fate of that project supports the position of those who argue private enterprise often is more effective than the government. But it should be remembered that Cal Am played key roles in the decisionmaking and shenanigans that derailed the regional plan.

We would greatly prefer a public agency control the unfolding process, but if Cal Am wants to go it alone this time, it likely will speed things along. Even so, any expenses incurred in defeating the county ordinance should not be borne by the taxpayer or the ratepayer. The public should not have to pay a penny to have even less of a say over a vital public service.